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Golden visa investment falls

The investment that Portugal has captured through Golden Visas fell 3.4 percent in 2017 compared with 2016, to a sum of €844 million, In total, 1,351 visas were awarded, the Portuguese border agency SEF said this week.

Most of the investment was to buy property, totalling €770,640,333. Out of this total, €743,699,901 went to buy property worth €500,000 or more and €26,940,431 was to buy property for urban renovation worth €350,000 or more.Since the programme was started in 2012, 5,553 Golden Visas have been issued: two in 2012, 494 in 2013, 1,526 in 2014, 766 in 2015, 1.414 in 2016 and 1.351 in 2017.China leads the list with 3,588, followed by Brazil (473), South Africa (218), Russia (195) and Lebanon (108).In related news, former Portuguese ministers Nuno Morais Sarmento, Daniel Sanches, General Newton Parreira and Fr. António Vaz Pinto gave testimony on Monday in favour of the defendant and former Portuguese border agency boss, Manuel Jarmela Palos, relating to charges of Golden Visa fraud and corruption.The former presidency minister, Morais Sarmento, underlined the defendant’s “professional competence” and his conviction that “although he was sensitive to orders from his superiors and tried to resolve everything”, that Manuel Jarmela Palos would never consciously commit any crime.The former border agency boss is accused of taking bribes and mismanagement.The case involves the alleged facilitating of some golden visas in exchange for a consideration that was allegedly divided among a relatively large number of accused.

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